republicans have taken a pledge, saying they will never raise a dollar in taxes no matter what the budget deficit looks like. he is not why they decided to put the whole u.s. economy at risk if they don't get their way on spending cuts. he is not why the white house partnered with gun legislation, no matter how small, is tantamount to taking away guns, he is not why extreme movements like extreme ideas like going back to a gold standard in the middle of an economic crisis have taken root on the right. this country needs and deserves a better republican party. and there are a lot of people in the republican right now who want a better republican party who are trying to push it there. those people, i think include key leaders in the party, like the house republican leaders this week who are trying to talk their members down from the ledge. they include folks like david brooks who in saying that republicans look deeply unreasonable, they are telling republicans you are being unreasonable. you need to move to the center. the structure of their argument a bit weird, but they're pushing in the right di